DESOLATION LAKE

Decided to do a snow hike last Sunday. I figured if I could hike a mountain peak in waist deep snow last April I could hike to a lake in shin deep snow. Took 2 hours and 15 min to reach the lake, and thanks to all the snow there wasnt anywhere to sit and take a break. But it was a cool sight with the lake frozen over and not one track (human or animal) was anywhere near the lake. With this done, I have one lake and a peak I recently found Id like to get done before I move in the spring. Im keeping my fingers crossed...

muddy

Icey creek

fallen tree in the snow

Fork to Dog Lake or Desolation. I did Dog Lake in the summer via the Butler Fork Trail

Little bridge covered in snow

trail

little potgut trail next to me

Thank goodness this sign wasnt buried yet! These signs always make me smile because they say I made itthere she is frozen over! I was the first person to blaze a trail to the lake for the winter season

The untouched snow sparkling in the sun

*click to enlarge*

I made it!!!!

WINTER IS HERE

So I just lived my shortest summer ever, with snow falling on June 11th then again on September 1st. However the "Election Day Storm" officially ended my hiking season and kicked off the snowboarding season.

I had 2 more lakes to hike to on my list so Im pretty bummed I never got to get to them however I got to see a lot this summer:

I hiked to 12 lakes

Hiked 3 peakes (9,026 ft, 6,596 ft and 10,648 ft)

Hiked to 3 waterfalls

Totaled 24 days of hiking at least 1 hour

But now winter is here, we recieved 28 inches of snow in 24 hrs and 46 inches in 4 days in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Thanks to this storm and another coming in this weekend, Snowbird opened up 2 weeks earlier than planned!

Time to start clearing the car off

I just cleared my car off and its already covered

Mouth of the canyon

We drop these gates when doing avalanche control work

This is why I dont drive on snowy days

Arrived at work!

No joke, this much fell in less than 24 hrs

Gary dropping the gates!

hanging out by Superior

Not fun digging these out

Theres a truck under there, I had to dig out 10 of these

Plaza Deck

The Plaza Deck with tables and trash cans buried

The base of Peruvian looking across to the Cliff Lodge and Chickadee

Waist deep on Nov 5th!

More of the same up at Alta